Once upon a time, people smoking was not only considered to be acceptable, but actually a healthy and glamorous thing to do. You would see pictures of people smoking in all the leading magazines, often celebrities who were more than happy to endorse one type of cigarette or another. With the advent of television, commercials portrayed people smoking in public places, such as restaurants, parks and just about every setting one can imagine. Pictures of people smoking cigarettes and enjoying themselves made tobacco part of the American dream for success and contentment.

Of course, not all smoking was limited to tobacco. People smoking marijuana was an issue for most of the twentieth century, perhaps having its zenith during the social upheavals of the Sixties. People smoking pot were thought to be part of the revolution that would remake society, so having a joint rolled up and ready to share was definitely a status symbol among the counter culture of the time. There was no thought that people smoking weed were in any danger at all, since it was a natural high that did not have the track record of problems historically associated with alcohol consumption. In fact, some people smoke marijuana during the period as a way to kill pain while dealing with a terminal illness. But for most, it was more for mind expansion than pain management.

No matter what is being smoked, the fact is that smoking is destructive. Media hype and lack of information about the health risks helped to create an environment where people smoking was acceptable and often considered a rite of passage into adulthood. We still live with the remnants of that tradition today, as we wonder how many people smoke today, especially the number of young people smoking. It is often hard to understand what people who smoke are thinking, in light of all the evidence today that smoking is simply not good for the human body. And then we remember how we have hundreds of years of acceptance and then the strong reinforcement of the media of just a few decades ago, and it doesn’t seem so strange after all.

The bottom line is that people should not smoke. While it would be great to think that all the scientific research is a major reason why people quit smoking today, the fact is that it more often than not has to do with facing the reality of health issues like high blood pressure, lung disease and even heart disease. We tend to smoke until we have almost gone too far.

Hopefully as there is more time between the days when people smoking was considered sophisticated and now, the allure will continue to fade. The reality of knowing the dangers of smoking today will lead more people to reject smoking as being grown up or glamorous and see it for what it is – a nasty habit that leaves us smelling bad, addicted to nicotine and ultimately a means of ushering us out of this world in a lot of pain.